1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving information about a service provider or information about a service.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) corresponds to a service that delivers various services including an information service, a moving picture contents and broadcasting contents service, and the like to TVs via an IP network, that is, a high speed Internet network infrastructure. With the development of communication and broadcasting convergence services, there is increasing interest in the IPTV, and in this regard, it is expected that such activeness related to the IPTV will have a significant effect on not only communication and broadcasting industries but also on multimedia contents and electronic device industries.
According to the related art, in order to receive an IPTV service via an IP network, an IPTV service user needs to arrange a set-top box or any apparatus including the set-top box function that varies according to IPTV vendors. That is, only a user, who has an IPTV set-top box manufactured according to a specification set by a service provider providing an IPTV service, can receive the IPTV service from the service provider. For example, in the case where three IPTV service providers such as A, B, and C companies provide IPTV services, a service user, who purchased a set-top box of the A company, can only use an IPTV service from the A company. Hence, in order to use an IPTV service from the B or C company, the service user has to separately arrange a set-top box of the B or C company. Such a compatibility problem between an IPTV service and set-top boxes makes selection difficult for service users, and as a result, this compatibility problem deteriorates IPTV services quality or becomes an obstacle to the spread of IPTV services.
In order to solve this compatibility problem, recently, the Open IPTV Forum was established to discuss standardization. Members of the Open IPTV Forum have been in discussion to release a common specification independent from IPTV service providers and to provide IPTV services based on such a common specification to users who desire to use IPTV services.
The Open IPTV Forum aims to develop an interface and a hardware platform which are independent from the IPTV service providers, so as to allow a user to easily use IPTV services provided from the IPTV service providers. According to an Open IPTV forum architecture, a user may use services provided from different IPTV service providers, without separately arranging set-top boxes that vary according to the IPTV service providers, whereby service users may have a wider range of options with respect to selecting services.